Fate’s Destiny
by Oirx
Summary: Fate, a solo hunter with a vendetta against the Hive, finds herself thrown into an uncomfortable spot. How will she handle her destiny?
1. Venus and the Vex

The slim awoken hunter danced across the forest landscape like she had lived there all her life, easily sprinting across the high branches of the Venus forest canopy and jumping from tree to tree like a fabled Old Earth monkey. Her pale green ghost floated by her side, never falling behind or going ahead of his companion. Fate slid under a branch then jumped as she passed under the other side, sending herself flying across a large break in the intricately woven web of branches that surrounded her. Her hand glided to the hilt of her knife, a movement that seemed almost programed to the hunters mind, and she drew the silver blade with a metallic ring that filled her heart with excitement. As gravity began to take hold once more on the hunter, she began to fall towards the thick trunk of a massive tree. Before striking the tree with her full momentum she lashed outward with the knife, digging it deep into the hard outer bark of the tree, stopping her descent instantly. Fate held onto the knife with one hand, confident it's blade would not slip from the bark in which it rested, while the other hand flipped down the visor that was strapped to the top of her helmet.

"Do you see them?" She asked her Ghost through a mental link that few Guardians had with their small floating companions.

"I can sense movement but I don't see anything, this is weird, even for the Vex." He replied with a confused tone.

"You said they took the bait." She turned and looked at the Ghost through the heavily magnified visor.

"You do know how hard it is to bait the Vex, right?" He asked with a heavily sarcastic tone that was reflected by the stern look his singular red optic gave her.

"I know, I know. Since we can't see them but we can sense them, is it possible the Vex are using cloaking technology? That's something they would easily be able to access or create." She noted.

"It's possible. We're dealing with the Vex so best not to leave any possibility out." The small floating light said in response.

"Well if they are using cloaking technology-"

"There's only one way to find out." Her Ghost finished for her which elicited a chuckle from the Hunter.

"You know me too well Aspen." She said fondly as she pulled her knife from the bark with one hard yank and began to slide down the slightly sloped trunk.

"Sometimes I wonder if that's a bad thing or a good." He sighed before merging with his guardian's helmet.

As Fate slid down the tree she drew her large sniper rifle from her back and began to fire at the approximate location of the Vex, the thermal scope of the Tamar-D model Häkke rifle proving to be useless against the cloaked machines. One of her five shots hit the shield of a large Minotaur and disrupted the cloaking of the hulking machine beast causing it to let out a electronic roar of anger. Large purple shots exploded on the tree behind her as she rolled, switching to her trusty hand cannon as she tumbled across the muddy ground. Fate stood and fired three quick shots into the chassis of the Minotaur, causing the white center of its chest to explode with a blinding flash of light that caused the other, smaller Vex around it to be blinded.

The hunter took her opportunity opened up by the special rounds her gun fired to riddle the staggering Vex with fist sized holes, earning shrieks of anger and confusion from the uncloaked beings. A Hobgoblin fired a potshot at her with surprisingly uncalculated aim. The red streak zoomed past her head and struck the ground with a loud sizzling sound as the wet ground was cooked by the heat. Fate turned her attention from the Goblins to the delusional Hobgoblin that thought it could take her life today. With two precise shots, one to its T shaped head and the other to its exposed white core, the sniper lay in pieces on the ground, leaving behind a mess of Vex milk. Now Fate returned her fire to the remaining Vex, easily slaughtering the majority of the machines before she took cover and hid from the last Goblin, using the brief respite to reload her weapons.

"Remember if you want to retrieve data from this one, shoot it in the legs! You do know what legs are right?" Aspen reminded her with emphasis on the legs. He and Fate had been on Venus for almost a month because she would always kill the Vex without leaving any alive and while it was a service to the solar system and all of humanity, no information could be recovered from an inactive Vex brain.

"Fine! But only this one!" She yelled over the slap rifle rounds blasting away at her cover.

Fate held her and out and waited for Aspen to materialize a smoke grenade for her to use. Once the black grenade appeared in her hand she smiled and pressed its center down, activating the device. Black smoke rushed out of her hand and soon filled the air around her and the single Vex Goblin. Swiftly, she ran from her cover and circled around to the backside of her target. Fate holstered her gun and drew her knife once more, this time slow enough for it to be unsheathed silently. After a moment of waiting, she lunged forward and slammed the metal robot to the muddy surface before she drove the knife in between the sockets that connected it's limbs to its body. One by one she removed the Vex's arms and legs, starting with it's right arm that contained it's slap rifle. After she was done she stood and looked down at her accomplishment, letting the smoke clear before she reached down and grabbed the beast by it's large semicircular head.

"One disabled Vex ready to serve!" She cheered as her Ghost materialized beside her, scanning the Vex before he looked to her with a single approving nod.

"Good work Fate, now we need to take it back to our camp and extract its knowledge." Aspen said with disdain as he spun the back section of his shell thoughtfully.

"After that we can go back to the Tower and get some real food right?" She asked hopefully. In the month that she'd been out in the Venus wilderness, Fate had only eaten whatever her Ghost could determine was safe for consumption, mainly spirit blooms with tree pulp which never tasted even close to food.

"You don't like my cooking?" Aspen asked with sarcastic hurt in his voice.

"No offense or anything but, not even a Thrall would eat what you call food." Fate replied with a soft giggle.

"I'll pretend like that didn't hurt. Come on, we've got a lot of ground to cover before we get to camp." He said as he dematerialized into her helmet.

"How am I going to carry this hunk of scrap?"

The Vex let out a high pitched screech as the female hunter called it a hunk of scrap wich only earned a laugh from his captors.

"He didn't like that." Aspen laughed. "You do know you have a sparrow right?"

"I thought the Vex had no emotion." She noted, "I guess we can use the sparrow, it's not as much fun as the trees though." Fate said with a disappointed groan as the vehicle appeared before her.

"They don't but that doesn't mean they don't feel insults. The collective mind probably heard what you said. You know what's surprising, Osiris believes the collective mind for each collective has the ability to process emotion and formulate the proper response to them. He says it's beca-" The ghost was cut off by Fate holding up her hand to silence the little light.

"You're worse than Brother Vance." She teased as she tied the Goblin to the front of her black and white sparrow. Due to wear and tear of guardian life, the colors of the sparrow had changed from once pristine white and deep black, to a green and mud stained mess and now a Vex Goblin was leaking Radiolarian fluid all over the floating vehicle.

"Hey! Don't compare me to-" Once again Aspen was cut off.

"Come on, lets head back to camp. You can defend your Osiris fan-ghosting there." She said with a chuckle as she climbed onto the sparrow and revved it twice letting the roar of the engine fill the air around her.

Aspen groaned with annoyance and dematerialized into Fate's worn and dirty helmet that had been given to her by the Vanguard along with the armor set she wore called Road Complex AA1. Fate had heavily modified her armor over the short time she'd had it. In a little under four months, Fate had added a magnifying visor with adjustable zoom levels, an extra knife sheath onto her chest piece as well as extra ammo pockets, the arms contained a data interface that she often used to check her inventory and bounties as well as interfacing with any technology her Ghost couldn't activate. Her boots, however, remained untouched, preferring their original state to any she could think of. Once belonging to a hunter she had known, the boots had fallen into her possession after the untimely passing of her dear friend. Now The St0mp-335, as Marcus had called them, belonged to her. He had created them from an idea he had in his mind since the day he became a guardian.

The boots contained a hydraulic booster on each leg that greatly improved the speed at which a person could run. They also increased the height a guardian could jump by an extreme amount and when paired with a Hunters ability to jump a second time in mid air, the distance once could achieve with the boots was impressive. Twice during the testing of the boots, Marcus had jumped with so much force his legs were removed from his body and twice, Fate had to kill him so his ghost could revive him. Marcus and Fate had been part of the same fireteam for years until he descended into the Hellmouth without her. Fate was the one to find his remains encased in a Hive crystal within the Temple of Crota along with several other guardians who were presumed to be missing. Losing him was hard on her, after several tries to pair Fate with other teams the Vanguard gave up, letting her choose where she wanted to go and assigning her very long missions that often would keep her from the tower for several months.

To Fate this choice was a hunter's dream come true. To be allowed into the wilderness with nothing but her guns and ghost, letting the Light guide her way and killing any minion of the darkness, it was all she longed for. Her trip to Venus was the fourth assignment the Vanguard had given her in two years due to her extended stays wherever she was ordered to go. Now she was on Venus to investigate an large increase in Vex activity in the previously untouched, lush forest that occupied the edges of the Ishtar region. Now the Vex's geometrical shapes sprung up from the ground all throughout the heavily patrolled forest. Luckily for her, the canopy of the trees remained untouched by the Vex's mechanical infestation.

As the Awoken zipped across the forest floor towards the large tree she had set up camp in, she noticed a startling lack of wildlife that normally chittered to her in their strange animalistic tones as she went past. Looking around with confusion, she slowly brought the sparrow to a halt under the dark shade of a few trees. From there she disembarked the vehicle and drew her Tamar and lifted her visor, scanning the area through the thermal scope which normally would have been glowing with orange from all the birds that occupied the canopy and the smaller animals that occupied the forest floor. Now the scope was showing no signs of life anywhere near her. Worry began to rise up in her mind as she tried to figure out what would cause the animals to flee, all of her thoughts fell on one answer, the Vex were here.

"Aspen, what is wrong with this picture?" She asked her companion mentally.

"You mean other than a whole forest suddenly falling silent after we capture a Vex Goblin?" He paused and thought for a moment. "They're watching us, they have to be." He added.

"So why aren't they attacking?"

"I have no idea. Should I prepare for resurrection?" He asked with a slightly hopeful tone.

"You know me Aspen, when's the last time you had to bring me back?" She asked with a serious tone.

"One year and fifty days ago. You know being resurrected is actually good for your body?" He chided.

"Let's talk about what's good and what's not later. We should get moving before they decide to attack us." She said quickly before hopping back onto the sparrow and speeding off faster than she had been going before.

After two hours of dodging and weaving through the dense rainforest tree trunks, Fate and Aspen finally arrived at their camp. This was the tallest tree in the forest and also the widest she could find, its diameter stretching seventy feet according to Aspen's calculations. At the middle of the tree was a large, flat branch that had likely snapped early on in its life due to its heavy weight. Where the flat branch joined the trunk was a large opening that led into the inside of the wide trunk. There was a large chamber on the inside of the trunk that looked like it once belonged as the nest of some large feathered creature that Aspen could not identify.

Once at the base of the immensely tall tree, Fate stopped and looked up with silent awe at the extreme height of the natural growth. No matter how many times she had looked up at the tree from this angle, it still always managed to impress her with its height and width.

"What's the matter Fate, wish you were taller?" Aspen joked.

"Shut up, little light." She replied equally as teasing.

"Hey! That's just rude." He groaned.

"Yeah, yeah. Aspen can you get me and our friend up to the branch please?"

"Sheesh, I swear you think I'm some sort of elevator." He said to her as she dematerialized and rematerialized up on the branch.

"You're not an elevator?" She said with mock surprise.

"You know I could have made you walk. Let's get the Goblin up here." Aspen said before the goblin materialized on the branch in front of Fate.

Fate reached down and grunted as she began to drag the limbless Vex into the opening of the large tree. After she leaned it against the far wall of the opening, the young Awoken girl removed her helmet with a sigh of relief as her dark blue hair fell around her face like a veil. She brushed it aside and made her way to a crate that had a lamp set up on its surface as well as odds and ends to things she had been working on since they arrived on the lush world. Fate cleared off a space and set her helmet down before she looked over to the Goblin who's red optic never moved from her. For a moment she stared back at it before eventually finding it's cold and calculating gaze to be unselling. She stood and grabbed a tarp that she had used to cover her now gone food supplies and walked over to the Goblin before kneeling down in front of the metal creature.

"How many ways do you think you can kill me?" She asked it, unexpectant to a reply.

The Goblin kept its cold and lifeless gaze locked onto Fate as if it were trying to smother her light with just its gaze alone. Fate sighed and stood before she covered the Goblin with the tarp and walked back to the crate. The sound of thunder booming over head caused her to look up at the natural ceiling the tree had created with slight wonder. After a moment the relaxing sound of rain pelting down upon the large leaves that made up the canopy began to echo through the tree, the sound coming from above her head and being amplified by the shape of the room she was in. Aspen materialized in front of her and flew over to the makeshift table before she could get there. He hovered above the table and spun his shell as he watched his guardian closely, easily understanding that something was wrong with her.

"Fate, what's on your mind?" He asked with genuine concern.

Fate looked over at him with glowing azule eyes and sighed, letting her gaze fall to the floor. "Today marks the fifth year, since Marcus died…" She said bitterly.

Aspen floated off of the table and over to his guardian. He lowered himself so that he could look up at her and see her eyes. "I know. I'm sorry." He paused and rotated his front half. "If you want I can play the recording…" Aspen continued solemnly.

For a moment Fate was silent as she contemplated bringing the pain and grief she felt at his loss back up to the surface of her mind. Slowly she nodded, her long blue hair shifting atop her head as she moved her head. Part of her wanted to forget the sorrow she felt over her friend, while another part of her wanted to remember. Fate realized long ago that she would never be able to forget Marcus due to the immense impact he had in her life as a Guardian and as a protector of the City. She watched as her ghost dematerialized then turned and walked back to the crate. Her hands shook slightly as she picked up her helmet and put it on her head, the memories of what she found in the Hellmouth clawing at her mind like a ravenous Thrall attempting to eat the light.

The visor of her helmet grew dark as she sat down with her back against the crate. Soon a blue light appeared in the middle of the dark screen then faded as a video began to play. There was Marcus Ren, his soft features smiling at her through the recording sending a feeling of warmth and happiness through her body. Tears slowly began to roll down her soft blue cheeks as the recording continued. In the background Fate could make out the restaurant that the two used to eat at everytime they returned from a mission, no matter how long or short it was. She could tell the restaurant was empty due to the startling lack of background noise. Only recently had she discovered that the owner of the restaurant had let Marcus have the room to himself in order to record this message.

In the soft light of the room she could see the armor that he was wearing, the same armor she found him in on that dreaded ball of white dust and Hive corruption. The message was recorded a few days before the Vanguard lost contact with him. To her it was their fault he died that day, they let him go alone. They didn't have her accompany him for fear that it was too dangerous for a still inexperienced hunter. She watched as Marcus stepped back from his Ghost, Pine, who was recording the message.

"Are you recording?" He asked with a smile.

"No, I'm just watching very intently. Of course I am." Pine said sarcastically, eliciting a slight chuckle from the male hunter.

"Okay. So how do I do these things?" Marcus' face held a confused expression.

"Just talk to her like you normally would." Pine replied.

"Okay, okay." He paused and sighed for a moment. "Hey Fate, If you're watching this then I've probably already left for the moon. I know you are mad that you aren't coming with but it's not my choice this time. The Vanguard is right though, this place is not safe, even for someone as badass and handsome as me." He joked as he flipped his dark brown hair back, attempting to make himself look good.

Fate couldn't help but chuckle at this, a small smile splitting the frown that was on her face moments before. Though she never told him, she thought he always looked good, for a human. Her feelings about him were never spoken but she always knew he understood how she felt about him. They way he would speak to her was vastly different to how he would talk to others. When he spoke to her his voice was soft and gentle, but when he spoke to others he would take up a deep and threatening tone that was meant to keep people away from him, a trick that worked on almost everyone. Fate was an acception to that, when they first met he tried to scare her away with his intimidation but she wouldn't budge. She even told him he wasn't even remotely intimidating.

"But in all seriousness, after this mission I promise I won't go anywhere without you. You're my partner and I hate leaving without you. This mission is gonna be boring without you with me. It's okay though because when I get back we're gonna go someplace special, I want to give you something." Marcus paused and fiddled with something in his pocket then looked back up to the camera with a soft smile. "Anyway, I should probably get going. If anything should happen to me on this mission, just know that I lo-" The recording abruptly stopped and became nothing but a static filled screen.

Tears continued to pour down Fate's face despite the smile that pulled on the corners of her mouth. Reaching up with shaky hands, Fate removed her helmet and dropped it onto the ground beside her with little care. She wiped her tears away with the back of her gloved hand then stood up and began to walk towards the branch the formed a makeshift balcony. The rain fell down in a blanket despite the leaves above trying to capture all of the water their broad surfaces. Fate looked up and let the rain fall down on her like a warm shower, washing away her tears and pain. Her hair grew heavy as the warm water fell on her face and head.

"You know, this place isn't so bad, I mean it's not the tower or anything and the food here sucks, but it's nice." She said more so to herself than to anyone else.

Aspen materialized once more and flew out to his guardian and under her cloak, using it as a shield from the rain. Her cloak was worn and old, several holes riddled the dirty, blood stained fabric of the experienced cloak. The cloak was the only thing she had that wasn't given to her, this was something she had made herself by hand. Marcus had given her the materials and even taught her how to sew a cloak without Ghost assistance.

"It's no but, food. Now I know I'm a fantastic cook but when all I have to work with is spirit blooms and tree pulp, nothing I can do will help that taste." Aspen said from under the cloak in an attempt to lighten her mood which worked slightly.

"Yeah that's true. Maybe we could get the recipe from Spicy Ramen if we ask." She joked as she lifted the cloak over her shoulder to give Aspen more cover and so he wasn't behind her back. "I wanna go back to the tower Aspen." She said softly as if she was unsure.

Aspen flew to her front and looked up at her from under the cloak, rotating his back half thoughtfully before he spoke. "Then let's get what we need from that Goblin and get out of here, I need a good washing and you do too." He noted

Fate scoffed and started to head back to the inside of the tree with a smile on her face. "Aspen are you saying I smell?" She joked.

"Well I'm not saying you don't." He teased.

"For one so small you are very rude." She quipped as she approached the Goblin.

Fate reached out and grabbed the black tarp before quickly pulling it off of the incapacitated Vex. For a moment it's optic was dark but it soon light up with its familiar red glow. The Goblin looked up to Fate and focused it's optic on her eyes once more as if it was searching for something hidden in her glowing blue iris. The hunter grabbed the Vex by the back of it's metal head and drug it over to the crate, laying it on the ground beside the box and grabbing the tools she'd need to open its exterior and expose it's alien insides.

After a few hours of struggling, the head was finally removed from it's body without damaging any of it's vital components. Fate set her tools down and wiped the sweat from her brow before sighing and pulling out a few retractable connectors from her wrist interface. The Awoken connected the wires to the semi organic processor and began to pull information from the creature whose singular optic began to flash as the data was ripped from it's mind.

"Aspen," She waited for the ghost to materialize before she continued. "Is the ship ready to go?" She asked curiously as she looked down at the wrist interface, seeing that the data was sixty-seven percent downloaded already.

"The engines are hot and transmat is ready when you are." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Are you okay Fate?" He asked with genuine concern.

Fate nodded her head and smiled to him, though it was somewhat forced. "Yes Aspen, I'm good now. Don't worry about me, worry about this Goblin. He was recording us ever since we brought him here." She said with a slight chuckle.

"I can't say I'm surprised. Vex love to record everything, it's how they learn so quickly. With infinite machine brains processing one thing, they learn things in microseconds. It's actually kind of fascinating. Osiris believes the Vex are only using half of their processing power for some reason." He stated.

"Why would they only want to use half of their available power? That's like giving themselves a handicap in universal conquest." She asked with genuine confusion and curiosity.

Before Aspen could answer, Fate's wrist emitted a beeping sound signifying the information download was complete. Fate pulled the wires from the Vex brain and let them be pulled back into the side panel of the interface. The Vex on the ground let out a low screech as it's optic began to glow with a dim light that flickered on and off. Fate stood and put her helmet on before grabbing her hand cannon from her waist and loading one shot into the chamber, aiming it at the glowing white core of the Goblin who seemed to nod it's head weakly up and down.

"Thank you for the information." She said somewhat sincerely before she squeezed the trigger. With a loud BANG!, Fate ended the Vex's suffering then holstered the gun once more.

"Let's go home Aspen." She said before being transmatted in a flash of blue light, appearing in the pilot's seat of her ship that was hidden in a cave not too far from the tree.

With a low groan the ship lifted off the ground and flew quickly into the air in an upward arc. Eventually the dark storm clouds that occupied the air above the forest gave way to star spotted space. The sun cast a blinding glow onto the cockpit of the ship that only lasted for a few moments before the space in front of the ship was stretched until all Fate could see was the blue and orange hues of hyperspace travel. Closing her eyes she let herself drift to sleep in the comfortable seat that made a better bed than the hard wood of the tree's interior.


	2. New Responsiblities Old Memories

The cockpit of the ship shook Fate awake as the vessel landed in the large Tower hanger, it's powerful rotating engines letting out a high pitched whine as they cooled down. Fate sat up slowly, almost hitting her head on the roof of the ships cabin. She rubbed her eyes and made her way down to the back of the ship where Aspen transmatted her out into the busy hanger. Many ships were being lowered down into the ship storage from the landing area above their heads. Several columns of ships surrounded the Awoken hunter and her Ghost as they made their way to the crowded elevator. As she stepped on, she took notice of all the new Guardians onboard the elevator, all the new faces seemed to be glowing with excitement and wonder at their newfound lives as Guardians.

Fate scoffed in her mind before she looked over to Aspen with a serious look. "They all look so happy…" She said to him mentally with slight disappointment in her tone.

The green Ghost bobbed up and down to signify a nod of agreement. "It's nice to see Guardians smile. It's something that we rarely see."

"You think I don't smile enough?" She queried.

"Well since you ask, maybe-" Aspen stopped and stared at his guardian, holding back a laugh.

Fate was staring blankly at Aspen with her two index fingers in her mouth pulling her lips into a giant smile that showed off her brilliant white teeth, all the while keeping a serious expression that showed little to no emotion. The young Guardians around her only stared at her with confused and worried expressions but their looks didn't bother Fate in the slightest. She held her gaze at Aspen until he could not hold back his laugh any longer and let out a loud laugh that nearly caused the Ghost to drop to the floor which caused Fate to laugh as well. She let her hands fall from her face as she joyously giggled at herself, the other Guardians staring at her and her Ghost with bewildered looks.

Fate quickly stepped off the elevator once it had stopped at the bustling tower courtyard. As usual, there was a large crowd amassed by the Tower's Cryptarch, Master Rahool, and a second crowd gathered by Shaxx, the Crucible Handler. Zavala stood in front of a young Exo Titan and a fledgling Human Warlock. The two new guardians looked like kids dressed in their parents clothes, the robes the Warlock had adorned look almost three sizes too big for her small frame and her helmet which she held at her side resembled a crate more than a protective piece of gear. Next to her stood the black and yellow Exo, he appeared to be nearly six and a half feet tall which only made the already short Warlock seem twice as small. His armor fit better than hers but due to his large height and broad shoulders, the armor he wore looked a little too small for a man of his size. Slowly Fate began to make her way to the Titan Vanguard, eager to give him whatever information she had pulled from the Vex.

Before she was even in hearing distance Zavala spotted her and began to wave her over with a relieved look taking over his face as she came closer. "Fate! Would you come here for a moment?" He yelled to her over the jumble of sounds the courtyard held.

"Oh Traveler no." Aspen said mentally to her as she continued to close the distance.

"He wouldn't try and put us with another fireteam would he? And even if he did it wouldn't be rookies, right?" She asked her companion with a hopeful look upon her face.

Zavala smiled as he she stopped behind the two new guardians who were staring intently at the new face. Fate let her eyes wander to each of the young guardians for a moment, letting herself observe their features and expressions. The Warlock with the long red hair looked young, too young to be a guardian. Her pale, freckle spotted, facial features said she was eighteen at max but the expression she wore and her dark hazel eyes gave off a feeling of hardship. Fate figured she had been in the City during the Red Legion's assault, an attack that not only changed the City forever, but also its inhabitants. The Titan on the other hand, he looked like he had seen many battles in his previous life but his expression showed no competence, a clear indicator that he had forgotten his past life like almost all guardians had. His purple and white face held a confused look as his blue eyes looked at the cloak on her back. Finally realizing she was a hunter, he turned away and gave his attention back to Zavala. Fate turned her gaze to the familiar blue face of Zavala who was staring back at her with a grateful expression that only stirred up worry and regret in the hunter.

"We should have pretended to not hear him. It would have been a proper excuse too…" Aspen muttered in her head.

"I kno-" Fate was cut off by Zavala introducing the young guardians to her.

"Fate, it is nice to see you back home, I'd like you to meet Fuse-23," He gestured to the titan who gave a nod and held out a hand to shake which Fate returned reluctantly. " And this is Sarah Law, she is one of the first City-born guardians." He said with pride distinguishable in his tone. Sara gave a smile and held out her hand as well which Fate shook with equal reluctance.

"It is a pleasure to meet you both, my name is Fate." She replied, giving each a smile and nod before she turned to Zavala and tapped her wrist interface lightly, hinting to the information within. "Sir, I retrieved all the information I could from the Vex in the Ishtar Jungle. I apologize for the long wait." Fate said quickly, wanting desperately to get away to the safety of her quarters before the Titan Vanguard could dump the new guardians onto her plate.

"Ah, thank you Hunter. This information should shed some light onto the recent spike in Vex activity on Venus. I have another task for you." Zavala said with a hopeful look.

Fate wanted to turn and walk away, saying nothing to the people who stood before her, but knew she wouldn't out of respect for the one who helped her get over the loss of Marcus. "Yes sir?" She asked tentatively, desperately hoping she was wrong in her assumptions.

"I need you to watch over these Guardians, at least until we can find them a permanent team. I know you prefer to work alone and I wouldn't ask this of you if I had any other options." Zavala paused and a new, thoughtful, expression came over his face as he weighed his next words carefully. "The Red Legion's assault on our home may be over but the damage they dealt is still being felt today. Whether we like it or not, our numbers have grown thin guardian. If you can not accept this task I fully unde-"

"We'll take them." Aspen chimed in happily before Fate could turn Zavala down.

The Awoken hunter glared at her floating companion, her eyes shooting daggers at the Ghost who bobbed up and down knowingly.

"He would have kept on momolougining untill you accepted. I just saved us some time, besides this could be a good thing." Aspen said mentally.

"Then it is settled. Thank you Fate, and Aspen." Zavala said, turning to the two new guardians with a smile as his Ghost scanned Fate's wrist interface for the data. "Don't worry, Fate will take good care of you guys." He leaned in close and added in a whisper so Fate could not hear, "She's rough at first but she's got a heart of Light." He smiled before he looked to his ghost who nodded, confirming he had the data.

Fate groaned softly and put her helmet on top of Aspen who almost tumbled to the ground under its weight. She turned and walked away, motioning over her shoulder for the other two to follow her to the noodle shop her stomach had been longing for since the last time she was at the Tower. Fuse and Sarah exchanged a hopeful look to each other before following suit behind her, exchanging words in a hushed whisper as they watched their leader.

"Do you think she's gonna like us?" Sarah asked Fuse with a tone of concern and worry.

"I hope so, if not she probably won't be our permanent fireteam anyway, unless she decides to keep us." He said blankly, seemingly uncaring.

"She won't give up on you guys, if that's what you are worried about." Aspen chimed in as he dematerialized the helmet that covered him into Fate's storage vault. "She really does have a big heart, she just doesn't like to show it very often." He paused for a moment and pointed his optic to the ground below. "The last time she did, it hurt her badly." He said with a sad tone.

"What happened?" Asked Sarah curiously.

"I can't say. Its personal to her." He said quickly before flying ahead to Fate's side, who seemed to ignore him as she walked down a flight of stairs to the west wing of the Tower where all the food shops and City business were ran.

This area of the Tower wasn't as crowded as the courtyard had been but that was due to it being fairly early in the evening. Not many Guardians sat down to eat during the evening, most waited until the sun had been down for hours to eat, drink, and party until the restaurants and bars closed around three in the morning. The human warlock took a deep breath was was taken aback as a her sense of smell was broadsided by an armada of different smells coming from the different food shops that lined the well lit ally. Fate turned back and smiled as she heard Sarah gasp as the group walked past a food shop that cooked some kind of steak in front of a few customers who patiently waited for their mouthwatering meal to be done. Fuse was the exact opposite of his counterpart, his senses did not register the wonderful aromas that filled the air and instead, only registered the basic chemical compounds that created the mouth watering scents.

Fate chuckled at his lack of enjoyment and stopped in the center of two ramen shops. One had been her favorite to attend with Marcus, while the other was a place she had only tried after his passing. After a moment of indecisiveness, Fate decided to leave the past where it belonged and entered the ramen shop that she had been to after Marcus was gone. The shop was called Colonels Ramen and Bar. It had a nice outside eating area, setup with a few clean tables and red and white chairs that surrounded the tables. Inside the small room was lit with a light orange glow. On the left was a few rows of booths that lined the wall while opposite of the booths was the bar. Behind the bar stood a light brown colored man with his hair pulled back in rows of braids. He was cleaning a glass when Fate and her two new guardians entered.

Looking up from the glass, the man smiled and set the glass down as he greeted Fate happily. "Fate! It's good to see you in one piece again. How was Venu-" He stopped as he noticed the two young and unweathered guardians behind her and beamed a toothy smile at her. "Well, well, well. What ever happened to miss 'I only work alone'?" He teased.

Fate rolled her eyes and sat at the bar. "You know James, if you want I can take my glimmer elsewhere." She teased back with a smile.

"Yeah and then you would miss out on the best ramen on Earth." He replied before he looked back into the serving window that gave a view into the kitchen. "Three bowls of the Shoyu special." He said to one of the cooks working in the back before he turned to face the trio of guardians who had taken seats at the bar with a broad smile. "So, what brings you three to this part of the Tower?" James asked in the hopes of stirring up a conversation.

For a moment the two young guardians looked to each before they looked over to Fate who was staring into the kitchen window, patiently waiting for the food that she could already smell. She was oblivious to the question posed by James, her hunger taking over her mind. After a light tap to her shoulder from Sarah, she slowly turned her gaze from the window to James with a confused look.

"What?" She asked.

"James asked a question." Sarah said softly.

"Oh! Right, um what was the question?" She asked sheepishly, embarrassed at her lack of focus.

"Jeez, you must really be hungry. Aspen what did you feed her out there?" James asked as the large bowls of steaming noodles, vegetables, and meat was set onto the window.

"Spirit blooms, some tree pulp. It's not like it wasn't healthy or nutritious." He said as he materialized beside his guardian. "Hey wait a minute," He said as he turned to face Fuse and Sarah. "Where are your Ghost's?"

As soon as he asked one black and red Ghost materialized beside Fuse and bobbed up and down as a greeting to the fellow Ghost. "Hello." The female ghost said to Aspen who bobbed back. The two ghosts turned to look at Sarah with anticipating looks as James set the bowls of ramen in front of the guardians. Sarah only stared back at the Ghosts and shrugged before she turned away and began to eat quickly. This exchange caught Fate's attention and she took a few bites of her food before she looked over to Sarah again with a confused look.

"Do you not have a Ghost?" She asked curiously.

"I'm not sure. I wasn't resurrected like you two. I was born in the City and exposed to the Traveler's light all my life, at least that's what Ikora said to explain my ability to use the Light like a guardian." Sarah said before taking a few more bites of the delicious food.

"Hmm, so that means if you die you can't be brought back." Fuse said calmly as he stared down at the food.

"Yep, that's probably why my parents didn't want me to be a Guardian." She said coldly as she thought back to her parents.

"What do they think now that you are a Guardian." James asked.

"They don't think much about it. Hard to think when your dead." She said bitterly as she kept her gaze fixated on the steaming bowl of soup.

Fate looked at James and Fuse with a shocked look. Slowly she turned her gaze to Sarah and opened her mouth to speak but decided against it. She didn't know what it was like to lose a parent and if she did, she didn't remember it. The only loss she had experienced was Marcus and that was far from losing a parent let alone both. Fate looked back down to her bowl as an awkward silence fell upon the room, and poked the noodles with the fork, her apatite having died with the conversation.

"So," Aspen said after a few moments of silence, "What kind of Titan are you?" He asked Fuse in an attempt to dispel the awkwardness.

"What do you mean? Also can Exo's eat?" Fuse asked with a confused glance up to James then to Aspen.

"Yes of course Exo's can eat." James chuckled. "You can taste too, did your Ghost not tell you that?"

"No she didn't." Fuse said as he looked over to his ghost who was nestled on his broad shoulder.

"You didn't ask." She replied quickly.

Fate looked over to Fuse with a broad grin. "Try a bite, it'll be the best thing your sensors ever tasted." She said confidently.

"Aw, thanks Fa-" James was cut off.

"It might be your recipe but you didn't cook it." She said teasingly as Fuse took his first bite of food.

For a moment his facial expression remained the same though it quickly gave way to one of wonder and happiness as he continued to shovel noodles and soup into his mouth as fast as he could. His arms moved like a blur as noodles flew into the Titan's waiting maw. This earned surprised looks from everyone, including Sarah who had looked up from her bowl to witness the spectacle that unfolded to her left. With in seconds the large bowl of soup was empty and the Titans face was splattered with soup. The group laughed at the Titan who gave them a confused look as they laughed, forgetting all about the awkward silence moments before.

"Why are you guys laughing?" Fuse asked with genuine confusion which only added to the laughter.

"Have you never eaten before?" Fate asked through laughter.

Fuse thought for a moment before he shook his head no. "I do not remember ever eating before now." He said as he wiped his mouth with a napkin James handed him. "It is a very pleasurable experience." He said, sounding more like a Frame than an Exo for a moment. "So what did you mean by 'what kind of Titan' am I?" Fuse asked Aspen curiously.

"I meant what aspect of the light are you attuned to?"

"You mean like Void, Solar, and Arc?" Sarah asked.

Fate nodded and spoke for her Ghost. "Yeah like me for example, I'm attuned to the Solar aspect of the Light meaning I wield the Golden Gun. James is-" She stopped herself and looked to James with an apologetic look.

"Wait you're a Guardian too?" Sarah asked him.

James sigh softly and looked towards Fate with a forgiving look. "Its okay, they would have found out eventually. I used to be a Guardian, a Nightstalker, attuned to the Void aspect as a Hunter." He said with a soft smile that hid a pained look below its guise.

"Ikora said I was a 'Storm Caller'. That's the Arc side of the Light right?" Sarah asked, receiving a nod from Fate and James.

"I think Zavala called it the Ward of Dawn. I accidently made a giant purple dome once when I sneezed after being revived." He said proudly though he was quickly shot down by his ghost.

"You mean when I revived you and you got scared of me?" She asked teasingly.

"Shut up Ghost." He muttered jokingly.

Fate was quiet for a moment then realized Fuse hadn't called his Ghost by a name at all since they met. "Wait, Fuse, have you named your Ghost?" She queried.

Fuse looked to his Ghost then shook his head as she spun the front half of her shell. "No, I didn't know I was supposed to."

"Well I would like a name please." His Ghost whined.

"Every Ghost needs a name. Otherwise you'll confuse a lot of people by calling out 'Ghost' in the courtyard." Aspen chimed in.

"Yeah a name might be a good idea." Sarah added.

"So what should you be named?" James asked.

"Hmm…" Fuse's ghost said as she spun her shell thoughtfully.

After several minutes of deliberation the Ghost gasped in revelation. "How about Luna?" She asked hopefully.

The three guardians and former guardian all exchanged approving looks then looked to Fuse for an answer. Fuse seemed elated with her choice and nodded excitedly. "I like it!" He said giddily.

"Then Luna it is. Why do you seem more happy about it than she is?" Fate asked curiously.

In a hurry Fuse reached behind his back and fiddled with something at his waist for a moment before he pulled out a large red hand cannon and set it on the bar top. The gun looked like an early model of a weapon Fate had seen a few other Guardians wielding in the Crucible from back when she used to compete in matches, the Hawkmoon was its name. Engraved on the side of the weapon's revolving magazine was the name Eyasluna. Now his excitement made sense to the others and to Luna who bobbed up and down happily.

"Hm. I didn't see that when Shaxx gave it to you." Luna noted.

James reached under the bar and pulled out four glasses and set them out before the guardians and one for himself. Reaching back under, he pulled out a dark bottle with a old fashioned cork in its opening. The label of the bottle had long since faded into an unreadable piece of paper stuck to the outside of the glass. As James uncorked the bottle a strong, robust scent of whiskey filled the air around him and the others. Fate took in a deep breath, enjoying the smell, and let it out slowly as she looked to James with a smile.

"Only one for me." She said as she held out her glass to be filled with the golden liquid.

"What is it?" Sarah asked curiously as she held out her glass as well.

After pouring a glass for everyone and putting the bottle back, James answered. "You do know what alcohol is, right?" He asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Of course, but what kind? In the City all we can get is what we can make or smuggle." She said as she looked at the liquid in her glass.

"It's called whiskey. I made it myself when I first became a Guardian. Zavala didn't approve but Cayde sure did." He chuckled before holding out his glass for a toast. "To Luna and her new name."

"And to a lasting team, hopefully." Aspen added, knowing Fate's thoughts on the idea.

She didn't object to what her companion said as she touched glasses with everyone before she sipped from the glass. This earned a subtle look of surprise from James who knew how she felt about joining a fireteam after what had happened to Marcus. Fate answered his look with a shrug as she continued to sip from the glass, being sure to take her time and to enjoy the unique flavor of the alcohol while Sarah downed the glass all at once. After an hour of meaningless chit chat and banter between the four, Fate stood and set her empty glass down on the bar with a smile.

"Thank you James, how much do I owe you?" She asked as she began to add up glimmer on her wrist interface for a transfer into his account.

"You don't. Tonight was on the house." He said with a smile.

"Are you sure? You brought out the good stuff, I owe you for that at least."

"Nope. You can repay me by bringing these two back again." He said as he gestured to the drunk Sarah and unaltered Fuse who was poking Sarah to keep her awake.

"Stop poking me you hunk of scrap." Sarah protested, wanting to fall asleep in the warm and cozy restaurant.

Fate sighed, knowing arguing with James was as futile as trying to arm wrestle a Cabal . "Alright we'll be back." She said with a smile as she let her wrist fall to her side before looking over at the two guardians. "Come on kids, lets go." She said as she helped Sarah to her feet, staying beside her to help her out of the door.

"I'm n-not a kid." Sarah said drunkenly as she stumbled forward, using Fate to stop herself from falling.

"Actually, you are the youngest one here." Aspen stated.

"He's right." Luna added.

"Shu-" she hiccuped, "Shut up."

"Come on. I'll take you to your quarters." Fate said with a slight laugh. "Fuse, you can go, I'll get her home." She said as she stopped and looked over to him.

Luna rested in his palm with her optic barely open. Fuse didn't speak and only nodded, not wanting to disturb his peacefully dosing companion. He smiled and gave a farewell nod before he turned around and headed to his own quarters on the lower floor of the Towers many living areas. Fate looked over at Sarah who was swiping at one of the several thousand wisps of light that came from the Traveler in it's now awakened state. The awoken woman chuckled as she watched the human miss repeatedly.

"You drank a lot for someone so young." Fate said as she continued walking towards the empty elevator.

"I did?" Sarah asked without looking up from the wisp she finally managed to catch.

"Yes, you did. People really only drink like that when there's something they want to forget." She tried to ask without directly posing a question.

Sarah looked up at her with a raised eyebrow and sighed heavily, almost falling forward as she did. "You t-think I'm trying to forget something?" She slurred.

"Well, why else would you drink that much? You are the only one who is this drunk." Fate stated as Aspen came to rest on her shoulder, his optic focused on the Traveler glowing in the dark sky.

"Look. Everyone has their o-own problems." Sarah mumbled, not wanting to talk about why she did.

"Well yeah, of course everyone has their own problems. If you don't want to talk about it I get it, just know one day, all the weight and blame you carry will crush you. When that happens I'll be here for you." She said with a tone that spoke from experience as they stepped onto the elevator.

"I thought you only worked alone? What h-happened to this being a temporary thing?" Sarah asked as she looked up at Fate through her mess of red hair that hung over her face.

"Well…" Fate paused and looked over to her and gave a soft smile. "Things change and maybe it's time I move on before I get crushed." She said softly, her voice trailing off at the end.

The was an awkward pause for a moment before Sarah spoke. "You know I looked it up, why you work a-alone." Fate looked away as the words stung her ears. "Marcus R-Ren, right? He died in the Hellmouth." Fate could tell she didn't mean to stir up her emotions but the alcohol removed all inhibitions and she continued. "The V-Vanguard said you blame you-" Fate stepped away and let Sarah fall to the floor of the elevator with a soft thud. "Ouch." She slurred.

"Please don't brin-" Fate started but was cut of by Sarah again.

"T-their report says you blame yourself. Is that true?" She asked as she propped herself up on her hands. Sarah's hazel eyes were locked with Fate's glowing blue eyes.

Fate didn't want to speak as she slid down against the caged wall of the elevator untill she was sitting with her knees up before her face. She let her head fall onto her knees as she sighed loudly, knowing Sarah and the Vanguard were right. She did blame herself and she had every right to.

"I-I'm not saying I'm an expert on this, but I do know what it's like." She paused and let out a loud hiccup before continuing. "I know wh-what it's like to blame yourself for something that isn't your fault." Sarah paused and sighed, knowing she was gonna regret getting into this topic, but also knowing she was in too far to stop now. "I re-remember the day they died. I was on my way home from work at the powerplant. It was so hot that day. When the first Cabal ship appeared in the sky I remember freezing and staring up at it in utter shock. At f-first I thought it was a joke but then it's cannons opened fire. The explosion shook the ground, even as far away as I was. The flames shot up so high into the air. I saw more ships come through the storm and, I-I ran. All the way home, ignoring the explosions and fires that sprang up all around me. I heard the cries of the injured and of the children who had lost their parents." She swallowed hard and paused as Fate looked up at her intently with a sorry look. "I ignored a child, he was crying for his mommy." She said as tears rolled down her cheek. "All I could think about was my family and when I finally saw them running towards me, I felt so relieved. They were safe," She paused for a moment and fought her trembling lip before she continued. "Then an explosion sounded off to their right. I looked up to see a housing complex fall, right on top of them." She paused and let her gaze fall to the floor as Fate stood and walked to her side, placing a hand gently on Sarah's back. "I know it wasn't my fault but… but if I had been home earlier, I-I wouldn't have let them take that path, they would still be alive." She said before finally giving way to her emotions, letting the tears fall like rain.

Fate could only wrap her arms around the sobbing Warlock and hold her shaking body tightly. She was right, she needed to stop blaming herself for what happened to Marcus, it wasn't her fault. Fate stood and helped Sarah to her shaking legs then made her way to the buttons of the elevator. The Awoken hunter looked at Sarah for a moment who was still crying before looking back to the panel and pressing the button for floor twenty-three, her floor. As the elevator descended Aspen floated off of her shoulder and looked at Fate, spinning his back half of his shell slowly, a Ghost's showing of sympathy.

"You both need to forgive yourselves. None of what happened to you or her was either of your faults." He said to Fate softly.

"If I had been there he might-" She started to argue.

"N-no he wouldn't have. If you were there too then the Hive would have had two g-guardians." This reply shocked both Fate and Aspen as it came from the trembling lips of Sarah who was looking up at the two with a sincere look.

"Wait how did you hear us?" Aspen asked with dumbfounded curiosity.

"You guys were talking. I do have ears." She said with a confused look.

"No, we weren't." Fate replied quickly with equal confusion as Aspen.

"We were talking mentally…" Aspen added.

"I could hear you though." Sarah was now just as confused as Aspen and Fate.

"How the-," Fate stopped herself and shook her head, dismissing the confusion. "We'll figure it out later. Right now we all need rest. Especially you, miss I'll just drink the whole bottle. " Sarah joked in an attempt to lighten the mood from the previously depressing conversation.

"It wasn't the whole b-bottle!" Sarah protested loudly, earning a shh from Fate.

"Others are sleeping. You ever wake up a Titan before?" Aspen asked.

Sarah shook her head in response and looked up at him with an intrigued stare.

"Good because you don't want to, trust me. When I was looking for Fate I came across a Titan camped out in the Hellas Basin and I woke him up. He swatted me like a fly while shouting obscene profanities that would cause a Colossus to shake in its boots." He said as the elevator came to a stop on floor twenty-three.

Fate stepped out of the elevator with her arm wrapped around Sarah's shoulder as the large doors slid open, revealing a long corridor of rooms with numbers next to each door. Aspen flew off down the hall and stopped next to a room with the numbers two-one-one-three next to it in fading red paint that was in desperate need of repainting. A blue beam of light emitted from Aspen's optic causing the door to slide open with a soft woosh. After a few minutes of trying to keep Sarah walking in a straight line they finally arrived at the doorway and stepped inside the dark room, letting the door slide shut behind them. Sarah seemed confused as Aspen turned on the lights that illuminated the sparsely decorated room. In the far right side of the room was a clean stove that looked relatively unused, an empty sink, and a small refrigerator with a picture of Fate and Marcus laughing tapped to the freezer door. Off to the right of the kitchen was a small bathroom that had a shower. At the center of the room was a table with a mess of papers on top of it and an empty mug that had dust gathering on it's inside. Beside the table was a red fabric couch and a small bed beside it with a nightstand to the right of the head of the bed. To its left was a window that held a stunning view right out to the City and the Traveler that hung just above the center of the CIty.

"Wait, this isn't my apartment." Sarah said after a moment of thinking.

"You are the most observant Warlock in the history of Warlocks." Fate said sarcastically as she guided Sarah to the bed.

Sarah tried to fight against Fate as she laid her onto the soft bed. "I can't stay here. This is y-your apartm-" She yawned despite her attempt to fight it. "Apartment." She finished.

"And you think you can walk all the way to the City in your condition?" Aspen asked rhetorically.

"Well I could." Sarah argured.

"I bet you could get to the elevator before you passed out." Aspen teased as Fate covered Sarah in the red and white blanket that lay at the foot of the bed.

"I bet you're wrong." She continued to argue with the Ghost.

"She's stubborn huh?" Aspen asked Fate who nodded her reply before she reached into her closet and pulled out a thick cloak.

Fate laid down onto the couch and covered herself in the cloak as Aspen transmatted her armor off of her body and onto the floor beside the couch. Pulling the cloak over her black jumpsuit, Fate curled up under the cloak and held out her palm for Aspen to land on, which he did gently before looking to Sarah. She was snoring softly with her hair sprawled out on the pillow like a red halo above her head. Aspen turned and looked back to Fate before he let out an electronic yawn, showing his exhaustion. Fate smiled at Aspen before she pulled him under the cloak and gently held him close to her body.

"Good night Aspen." Fate mumbled softly before he turned off the lights and her eyes shut.

"Good night Fate." He replied as his optic shut.


	3. Getting Geared

The next morning Fate woke up early as usual though this time she woke up feeling refreshed and happy, something she normally never felt when she woke up. Fate thought back to the last time she woke up feeling refreshed and sighed softly as she pulled Aspen out from under the cloak that doubled as her blanket for the night. His optic was still shut though she could tell he was awake by the slight movements of his outer shell as he thought about whatever it was that Ghosts thought about in their minds. She stood up slowly and set him down on the back of the couch before she looked over at the bed to find Sarah sprawled out, still snoring lightly. Fate shook her head slowly to get the remaining feeling of sleep out of her mind then made her way to the bathroom where she splashed cold water onto her face and began brushing her teeth. After her teeth were cleaned she shut and locked the door before she stripped and entered the shower.

As the wonderfully warm water washed over her soft blue skin she smiled, the last time she had taken a show with warm water was the last time she was at the Tower. After a while she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off before closing her blue eyes and focusing.

" _Aspen, can you transmat me a clean jumpsuit please?"_

For a moment nothing happened, then her old jumpsuit disappeared in a blue grid before a new, folded and clean, grey jumpsuit appeared on the bathroom sink. She picked it up and unfolded it before sliding it over her body and zipping up the front. Fate like the jumpsuits and enjoyed the way the suits hugged her body. After looking at herself in the small mirror she stepped out, her hair still dripping a few drops of water on the ground behind her as she walked over to the couch to get her armor. As she looked to the bed she saw Sarah sitting up on the edge, clutching her head with a pained look on her face as Aspen hovered in front of her, scanning her with a blue beam of light.

"Hungover?" Fate asked with a smile as she picked up her armor from the floor and began to put it on.

"It's too bright in here." Sarah groaned as she looked up to Fate with squinted eyes.

"Yeah she's hungover." Aspen confirmed as he too gazed over at Fate who was adjusting her chest piece, all the other gear already on besides her helmet which lay on the arm of the couch beside her.

"It's not even that bright in here." Fate said as she let her hand fall to the top of her helmet and gazed around the fairly dark room, dawn just beginning to shine light through the window.

"Yeah it is." Sarah groaned in opposition as she fell back slowly onto the bed. "Thank you for letting me stay here, sorry about what happened last night."

"It was no problem, I wasn't gonna let you walk all the way into the City like you were." Fate said as she grabbed her hand cannon from the table where she had set it the night before. "Aspen, please give her what you used to give me when I'd get hungover." She asked politely as she holstered the gun on her hip.

Aspen nodded and spun the back half of his green shell as he looked through Fate's storage for the tonic he used to give her when she would drink too much. After a moment he stopped looking and a red herb materialized on the nightstand as well as a cup. Fate walked over to the bed and sat down beside Sarah then grabbed the herb and crushed it into a fine powder that she placed in the metal cup. She stood and took the cup to the kitchen sink where she filled it with water then returned to Sarah but before sitting down she held the cup in both hands and shook it slightly to stir up the powder. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting her chest rise and fall slowly as she began to focus on a flame she envisioned in her mind. Soon her hands burst into orange flames of the Light and began to heat the liquid in the cup. Sarah looked up at her and starred with a shocked look as the water began to bubble as it boiled.

Fate opened her eyes and smiled as a strong, earthy smell filled the air in the room. The flames dissipated from her hands and she handed the steaming up to Sarah who had sat up and taken the cup into her hands.

"Drink it while it's hot. It's better if it's still hot enough to burn your taste buds, that way you don't taste it." Fate warned as she walked over to her helmet and picked it up. "Aspen can you hold onto this for a bit?" Before she could finish asking, the Ghost dematerialized the helmet. "Thank you."

Sarah looked down at the red liquid and shrugged before she took a sip of the hot liquid, letting it hit her tongue, a mistake she wouldn't make again. Her soft red lips began to pucker as the extremely sour drink washed down her pallet causing her eyes to water and her nose to run. Fate couldn't help but to burst into a fit of laughter after watching Sarah's groggy looking expression turn into one of pure regret and bitterness. Sarah looked up at Fate through squinted eyes that shot daggers at her onlooker.

"Told you to drink it fast!" She giggled uncontrollably as glowing blue tears of joy trickled down from her glowing blue eyes.

"GAHH! That shit it disgusting!" Sarah yelled after her face returned to a normal expression.

"Don't let yourself taste it, drink it fast. See your hangover is already lessened." Aspen said for his guardian who was unable to speak through her laughter,

Sarah rolled her hazel eyes at Fate before she quickly poured the cup into her mouth and swallowed it quickly, shivering unexpectedly as the drink burned its way down to her stomach. Almost instantly Sarah felt the crippling headache fade away to a distant memory. Finally Fate wiped her tears and caught her breath as she stood upright once more looking at Sarah with a grin.

"Better?" Fate asked.

"Shut up." Sarah pouted as she stood and fixed the bed, putting it back in its neat fashion.

"I think that's a yes. What do you think Aspen?" Fate asked as she looked over to her floating companion.

"I think you're right." He replied before heading over to the door which slid open as he shot a blue beam at the control screen.

"I hope I never taste anything like that _EVER_ again." Sarah said with emphasis on ever.

"Well if you don't drink yourself into confession then you won't have to. Now let's go, we should find Fuse and get our first mission." Fate said as she approached the door but stopped looking back at Sarah with a confused look. "Do you and him have weapons?"

"No, we were supposed to go to someone named Banshee-44 and get our weapons." Sarah said as she walked out the door leaving Fate to close up the room.

"Okay good. Which weapons do you like the most? Auto rifles, Scout rifles, Hand cannons, Sidearms?" Fate waved her hand in a circle to show that the list continued as she locked the door behind her.

"Um, well after the attack I had to use a weapon to defend myself. It was a submachine gun but I didn't really like it all that much. I think a scout rifle would probably be best suited to me." Sarah said after thinking it over in her head for a few seconds.

"Hmm. Aspen, do we still have the Vision of Confluence we won in that bet?" Fate asked Aspen who was already waiting at the elevator down the hall.

"Yeah, should I send it to Banshee?"

"Yes." Fate said before turning back to Sarah who walked alongside her. "Okay so what about heavy weapons?" She asked curiously. In Fate's mind, a person's choice of weapons reflected a part of themselves so to her this was a way to learn about Sarah. Her choice of a scout rifle showed that she was not willing to risk fighting in close quarters using a submachine gun which had poor range, but instead opted to be out of direct harm, dealing damage from the edge of enemy perception.

"Fusion rifle!" Sarah exclaimed excitedly before Fate even had a chance to list the different types of heavy weaponry.

"Okay, nice choice. Aspen," Fate said as she stopped at the door of the elevator, waiting for it to come down. "check Marcus' inventory for a weapon called- uhhh, well" Fate thought for a moment but came up blank. "Shit, just check anything that starts with T" She asked as the elevator stopped and opened revealing a platform full of guardians who had just woken up.

Fate and Sarah stepped onto the elevator floor and stood back as the door closed. The crowded elevator was loud enough for the sound of the gears and pulleys that brought the elevator upward to the courtyard to be drowned out under the cacophony of voices talking to one another. Fate looked over to Sarah who was looking at the other Guardians with an admiring expression as her eyes lingered over each person's unique armor and weapons. One person in particular caught and held her attention for longer than the others had. Fate followed her gaze to a female Warlock who was leaning against the far right wall of the elevator. The warlock wore a set of metal trimmed velvet robes that reached down to the knees of her boots which were also trimmed in the same metal that ran along the edges of the robes fabric. The arm armor she wore also matched the velvet and gold metal pattern that was repeated on most of the armor except the helmet. The helmet was made of shiny reflective glass that gave the world outside no view of the wearer inside. Atop the helmet rested a crown made of sharp glass spikes that reached out then curled up at an angle, between the spikes that make up the crown, electricity sparked and arced between the small gaps that separated the spikes from each other.

Fate looked back at Sarah whose eyes were still transfixed on the Warlock and her armor. Reaching out slowly, Fate snapped her fingers in front of Sarah's face, causing her to jump and let out a slight squeak as she turned to look at Fate with an embarrassed look as her cheeks took on a red glow.

"I think you were drooling." Fate teased.

"Was not!" Sarah protested.

"Was too." Aspen added.

"Shut off." Sarah grumbled as the elevator came to a stop at the bustling courtyard.

After stepping off the crowded elevator, Fate led Sarah over to the gunsmith, Banshee-44, who was dealing with a rather loud Titan who was demanding another crate of weapon modifications despite Banshee's refusal. With a low electronic groan, the exo weapons master reached under his counter and pulled out a large black hand cannon with two large barrels. In a flash he pressed the gun to the front of the Titans helmet and pulled back the hammer with his thumb, letting it click loudly as the firing mechanism locked into place.

"I said, no. Now go before your helmet becomes a container for whatever remains of your head after I pull this trigger." Banshee said in a low menacing voice that caused Fate to freeze in her tracks.

The Titan raised his hands in a sign of surrender and stepped back from the gunsmith slowly, waiting until he lowered the gun before her turned and ran back to his waiting fireteam. Sarah couldn't help but laugh as the large Titan turned tail and ran. Fate smiled and approached the gunsmith with a grin on her face.

"You know if you keep chasing away customers you'll go broke." Fate said as she leaned on the counter in a nonchalant manner.

Banshee turned away and began rummaging through a crate that was on the table behind him labeled, 'Today's Reqs'. Sarah could hear the Exo chuckle as Fate's comment from where she stood, slightly behind her Hunter companion. She watched over Fate's shoulder as Banshee turned around with a black and bronze colored rifle in his hands, some parts of the rifle resembling Vex technology which she had read about in the public library as she grew up in the city. Fate nodded and took the gun from his hand before setting it on the table then waiting as Banshee disappeared down the staircase that led to the lower level of his workshop. The soft blue Awoken turned around and smiled at Sarah, motioning for her to come closer to the table.

"He's really not that scary…" Fate said with a smile as Sarah came closer.

"...as long as you don't piss him off." Aspen finished from the other side of Fate.

"Anyway this is your's now. It's called The Vision of Confluence, straight from the Vault of Glass on Venus." Fate said proudly as she handed the lightweight weapon to Sarah.

She took the weapon and held it awkwardly for a moment but soon gained a feel for its weight and size as she raised the ammoless weapon to her shoulder and peered down it's sights. The gun was light and seemed to adjust for her smaller hands by lessening the width of the grip with some nanotechnology that was mentioned in the public records. Sarah lowered the weapon and smiled at Fate who was looking at her proudly. Without thinking Sarah reached out and wrapped Fate in a hug as she realized the value of the weapon she had just been given by someone who she had barely met.

"Thank you." Sarah said genuinely as she pulled back from the embrace.

"Y-you're welcome." Fate said with a shocked tone as her cheeks grew a shade darker though it went unnoticed by both.

Banshee returned carrying in his arms, a gorgeous pearl white and fusion rifle. It's conduction coils were painted a shiny gold and it's charge display was tucked safely behind a panel of beautiful magenta colored plexiglass. Fate grinned as he set the weapon down onto the table gingerly and then stepped back to admire his own handywork. Sarah's eyes lit up once she saw the beautiful mechanism of destruction that had been placed on the table before her.

"I gotta admit it, I did a damn good job with this one. Treat it nicely and give it a high kill count Guardian." Banshee said as he turned away to leave the weapon with the two.

"Wait, how much do I owe?" Fate asked but Banshee only shook his head in reply. "Thank you." Fate said with a smile as she picked up the weapon and handed it to Sarah who was searching for a place to set the Vision of Confluence.

"One your back." Fate said with a slight nod to her back.

Sarah slowly raised the weapon over her head and held it a few inches above the center of her back until the gun was pulled from her hands by a strong magnet that held it firmly in place. She smiled and looked back to see the barrel of the rifle pointing down towards the ground from her right side. Looking back to her front Sarah held out her hands and took the fusion rifle from Fate slowly, letting the weight slowly push down on her arms. This weapon felt perfect in her arms, it was weighted perfectly and felt solid, like it could tear through metal, flesh, or anything else that sought to stop her. Sarah raised the weapon to her shoulder and looked down it's glowing purple, holographic, semicircular sights. As she lowered it, Sarah shot a beaming smile to Fate who was staring at her with a grin of pride.

"This thing is amazing! What is it called?!" Sarah asked excitedly as she looked over the gun once more, admiring every detail of the intricate weapon.

"I don't know, Banshee doesn't usually name them so this one if for you to decide." Fate said as she looked over to Banshee who had laid out plenty of stacks of ammo for Sarah's Ghost to store, unknowing that she possessed no Ghost. "Oo, Aspen can you supply two people with ammo packs?" Fate asked her Ghost who bobbed his reply before placing the ammo into storage after scanning the many packs with a blue beam.

"Hmmm, I think I'll wait to name it. I wanna shoot it first." Sarah said as she placed it on her back next to the Vision.

"Fair enough. When me and Aspen found it aboard the Dreadnought it was far beyond damaged. I asked Banshee to fix it for me and to save it's schematics. As far as records show, it's the only one to exist." Fate said as she turned to look out at the busy courtyard where a fight looked like it was beginning to break out, in it's center, Fuse.

Sarah followed her gaze to Fuse and gasped as the large Titan who threw him to the ground drew his shotgun and took aim at his head.

"FUSE!" Sarah screamed at the top of her lungs.


	4. DeFuseing the Situation

The larger Titan glared down at Fuse who tried fruitlessly to push the larger Exo's foot off of his chest. As the Titans stared at each other the sound of a woman screaming caught both of their attentions causing Fuse to turn his head and see Sarah and Fate shoving their way through the crowd that had amassed around the fight. Fuse shook his head at the two, trying desperately to get them to stop as he heard the pump of the shotgun slide back into place, signifying a round was in the chamber. Fuse turned his head and glared up once again trying to push the large armored foot off of his now heavily dented chest piece.

"Wanna tell your friends goodbye before I scatter your parts across the courtyard, traitor?" The Titan said in a low, bitter, menacing voice that shot a twinge of fear into Fuse.

Fate drew her black and silver hand cannon from its old fashioned leather holster with the ease of muscle memory that she had drilled into her head from her previous years in the Wilds with Marcus. Her blue eyes were locked and focused on the twitching trigger finger of the larger Titan who stood unwavering over Fuse, the barrel of his gun steady, openly displaying his intent to kill his fellow Guardian. The Awokens own trigger finger rested lightly in the curve of her weapons trigger, still and unmoving. Unlike the shotgun wielding Titan who was filled with anger and rage, Fate was calm, her breathing coming in constant intervals of in and out, her chest rising and falling to the steady beating of her heart. The barrel of her weapon was trained on the shotgun aimed at her friend and she would be damned to the Darkness before she let the other Titan kill Fuse.

Despite the fear he felt, his attitude was stronger. "Yeah I got something to say." He cleared his throat as if preparing for a public speech. "Fuck yo-" The sound of a shot being fired caused Fuse to shut his eyes tightly, not wanting to see his imminent death fly out of the barrel of his executioner.

Fate did not hesitate as she saw the Titan's finger begin to squeeze down on the shotguns trigger. Her reaction was faster that his, the gun in her hands firing half a seconds before his did sending a large bullet into the side of the Titans gun causing him to miss his shot. His gun flew out of his hands and put a large hole into the ground beside Fuse's head. Fate kept her gun leveled at the other Titan's head, daring him to make a move he would inevitably regret when he found himself being revived in a prison cell. The other Exo's red eyes were locked with Fate's own blue, a silent exchange of words took place as she shook her head to the right, telling him to step aside and surrender before she put a round into his head.

After a moment of nothing but the sounds of shocked gasps, Fuse opened his eyes to see the shotgun no longer residing in the Titans hands. Looking over to his right he saw Fate with her black and silver hand cannon drawn, it's smoking barrel pointed at the would be killer. The Titan slowly raised his hands and stepped away from Fuse with a worried look. Fuse did not hesitate when the opportunity arose, to stand up onto his feet and deliver a hard and swift punch to the aggressing Titan's face which sent bits and pieces of metal flying through the air as the Exo's jaw unhinged. Before Fuse could throw another punch at the Titan who now took Fuse's former position on the ground, two arms wrapped around Fuse's right arm which was cocked back and ready to deliver a crippling blow to the downed Exo. Letting his rage continue to boil over, Fuse pushed his elbow back, striking the person who had attempted to stop the fight square in her face.

Pain exploded across Sarah's face as loud crunch echoed out of her freckle splashed nose as she stumbled backwards from the armored elbow to the face Fuse had just given her without even looking back. She fell to the ground clutching her face as blood poured out from between her fingers that tried to hold her broken nose in place. As she tried to hold the broken bones and cartilage in place, she could feel the disturbing movements of her own bones under her skin causing her stomach to twist with disgust. Had the pain not been blocking every other sense out, she probably would have hurled at the sickening feeling. Sarah was never one for blood and gore, especially not her own.

Another gunshot thundered out from Fate's hand cannon, this time tearing through Fuse's leg, causing him to collapse onto the ground, gripping his leg tightly. Fuse let out a loud yell of pain, anger, and confusion as his pain sensors in his leg exploded with sensation. Fuse shot an angered look at Fate but her expression was blank and emotionless. A second after the shot sounded and Fuse fell, Luna appeared beside him and began scanning the leg with a blue beam, determining where and what she needed to repair.

"Luna, don't fix that leg!" Fate yelled to Luna as she continued to approach the downed Titans, kicking their weapons away and removing the ones from their belt.

Luna turned her optic to Fate then back to Fuse before she looked down to the ground and let herself fall down slowly until she rested next to Fuse on the ground beside his head. Her optic shut halfway as her Guardian cried out in pain.

" _Aspen, take care of Sarah. If you can add her imprint to your data that way if anything should happen to her, you can revive her."_ Fate ordered her Ghost mentally.

" _On it!"_ Aspen said as he materialized and flew over to Sarah before he scanned her with a blue grid of light. The Ghost then proceeded to repair her severely broken nose with ease, restoring it to its original shape. Sarah could feel the bone moving of its own accord under her skin as the Ghost repaired the bones and cartilage, causing her stomach to twist even more.

"Done!" Aspen called out as he saved her imprint into his data. "Are you alright Sarah?" He asked her as she slowly stood up, touching her nose with slight disbelief before looking up at the Ghost with a thankful smile.

"Yes I'm fine now. Thank you Aspen, I wish I would have had someone like you around when the City was attacked." She chuckled nervously as she saw Fate standing over Fuse and the other Titan with her gun drawn, holding them there until the Tower guards could arrive.

The sound of unison footfalls echoed out of a door next to the Eververse shop as four of the heavily armored and Tower Security guards emerged, each with a Suros Regime, led by the familiar blue bald head of Zavala who wore a heavy disappointed look. Zavala looked around at the crowd with a cold stare, another silent exchange of words that only a few smart Guardians understood as they began to turn and walk away, resuming their original activities. The other who did not catch on stared blankly at the Vanguard commander, waiting for him to speak.

"All those who stay to gawk at this shameful sight may as well walk yourselves to the jail." He said coldly as he turned his gaze back to the two Titans with a glare.

The crowd quickly began to disperse as several Guardians transmatted elsewhere, fearing the wrath of an angry Zavala. Sarah walked over to Fate who was holstering her gun and stepping back as the guards approached and picked up Fuse, slapping electromagnetic cuffs to both guardians. Fate and Sarah watched with sad eyes as the guards took Fuse away to the holding cells where Guardians who became too rowdy or aggressive were kept until they cooled down and their infractions could be judged by the Guardian Council.

Zavala came to a stop a few feet in front of Fate and Sarah and watched for a moment as the guards took the two away, one on each side of the Titans to keep them in check. After they had disappeared behind the doorway the guards had came from, Zavala turned his gaze to Fate and Sarah.

"Thank you both for stopping that before it got out of hand. Do either of you know what started the fight?" Zavala asked, not wanting to interrogate but nonetheless being required to. "I need to know all that you heard or saw if you want to help Fuse get off easy."

Sarah looked to Fate as she began to speak. "We didn't see what started it but we did see some of what happened before we intervened. We were at Banshee's getting weapons ready for today when we saw it." Fate said calmly as she leaned slightly and put most of her weight onto one leg.

"He also called Fuse a traitor, though I do not know why." Sarah added in a low voice, intimidated like she was yesterday from the presence of Zavala.

"I have heard those rumors drifting about several times since the attack. They have never been directed at a specific person before though. I believe your friend is being used as a scapegoat simply because of the fact that he is one of the first Guardians to be revived since the Traveler awoke." Zavala noted before pausing and letting out a heavy sigh then looking at Fate with the same look he wore when she was informed of Marcus' disappearance on the Moon.

Shivers ran down Fate's spine as he locked his eyes with her own. "Why are you giving me _that_ look?" She asked in a worried tone.

Zavala paused and looked away for a moment as he contemplated his next choice of words. "We need you and Sarah for a mission." He said coldly.

"Where?" Fate asked with impatience.

"I will discuss it when we are in the briefing room, Cayde and Ikora are waiting for us." Zavala said, trying to avoid answering her question.

"Where?" Fate demanded as she stood up straight, a frustrated look resting on her face.

"If you'll come with me to-" Zavala was cut off.

"Where!" Fate demanded once more in a harsh tone that made Sarah step back.

"The Moon." Zavala finally gave in, breaking eye contact from Fate and letting his gaze drift to the floor with a guilty look.

Fate opened her mouth to speak but was unable to find the words she wanted to say without disrespecting the Vanguard and it's choice. Instead Fate turned away and walked off, not looking back at Zavala, who refused to look up, or Sarah who watched as she walked away with a look of confusion and worry. Sarah turned to follow after her but Zavala looked up to her and spoke in a soft voice that made Sarah stop and look back with a curious look. A Warlock by nature, Sarah was curious about all things, even what caused both Zavala and Fate so much pain.

"Wait, she will be back but I still need to brief at least one member of your team before the Vanguard is unavailable. Please, come with me to the briefing room." Zavala said before turning and walking the opposite direction Fate had gone.

Sarah looked back to Fate just in time to see her cloak disappear around a corner. Sighing softly, she turned and followed Zavala towards the briefing room on the West wing of the Tower. The silent walk there seemed to take longer than it actually did due to the many questions that were turning over in Sarah's mind. _Why did Zavala seem to regret the assignment so much? What bond existed between the two? Why didn't Zavala want to tell her until she was in the briefing room? Was it to keep her from storming off like she just did?_

Sarah's thoughts were quickly pushed to the back of her mind as they entered a large door guarded by two of Lord Shaxx's Redjacks. The door was engraved with the symbols of the foundries, the Vanguard, The City, and the Factions. In the center of the large double doors, was an engraving of the Traveler which connected all of the other symbols with wispy lines meant to represent the light. Zavala stepped forward and pushed the two doors open with ease, a task that would have been somewhat daunting on Sarah's smaller and weaker body. As the doors opened Sarah could see the two other Vanguards and Lord Shaxx standing off to the side, listening to the argument that Cayde-6, the Hunter Vanguard, and Ikora Rey, the Warlock Vanguard, were having. Though Shaxx's face was unseen through the helmet he wore, Sarah assumed that he wore a tickled smile as she listened to the last part of their conversation.

"And I'm just saying, I should be allowed to have my tank back. Zavala talked to Amanda and she said she would give it to me. I hardly think it's right that you would take it from me." Cayde protested to Ikora with childlike defiance.

"Cayde you blew a hole into the Hanger subfloor." Ikora said flatly, her dark features showing slight annoyance with the Exo.

"It was an accident! Colonel stepped on the trigger." Cayde said as he gestured to the chicken who was clucking quietly in the far corner of the room.

"Oh i'm sure it was." Ikora replied with a sarcastic tone.

"He said he was sorry, and he was glad no one was in the ship."

"Ahem." Shaxx cleared his throat loudly to get the pair's attention before he gestured with his hand to Zavala and Sarah.

"Oh, hello my big blue buddy. I was just talking to Ikora about how she can't take _my_ tank away, right?" Cayde said as a greeting to the Titan. "Hey wait a minute, where's Fate?" Cayde asked with a confused look on his face, his blue eyes trying to see behind the large Titan as he strode down the few steps to the table, leaving Sarah standing by herself in the doorway.

"She has my full authority to revoke your tank privileges and Fate had other matters to attend to." Zavala said shortly, giving the others a hint as to what happened without having to say it. Unfortunately the hint flew over Cayde's head and he continued to question.

"Well I'll go get her then, this meeting is far more important than noodles." Cayde said as he started to walk up the steps but was stopped by Zavala's hand being put onto his shoulder.

"Let her be Cayde, she wasn't ready for it." He said calmly as he looked up to Sarah and waved her over with the hand he removed from Cayde's shoulder.

Sarah slowly made her way down the steps, feeling four times as intimidated now that she was in a room with the Vanguard and the Crucible Handler, someone she had never seen until now. The red haired human stopped when she reached the table and looked around at the others with a confused look resting on her soft, freckled facial features. She had no clue why Zavala would ask her to accompany him without Fate or what the need for her and Fate to be there was. Here she felt lost in the dark, no, not the dark, the light. All of the greatest living Guardians occupied the room where she stood and she could feel the pressure of their light and their reputations weighing down on her small spark of light. Sarah tried to push the feeling of being small aside in her mind but no matter how hard she tried, the feeling persisted.

Ikora noticed the young Warlock shifting uncomfortably where she stood and waved her over with a smile. "It's okay to feel nervous Sarah. You don't have to feel that way here. Here we are all Guardians, no matter our rank, position, reputation," She paused and looked across the table to Cayde who was preoccupied petting the chicken who pecked at his hands. "Or knowledge." She added as she looked back to Sarah who was smiling slightly as she watched Cayde.

Looking back up to Ikora she nodded her head. "Thank you Ma'am." She said respectfully as she looked across to Zavala. "If you don't mind my asking, what's the point of me being here without Fate?"

Zavala smiled at her question, a sign of her growing comfortability around the Vanguard. "You are here for two reasons. One, you can relay the mission to Fate when you find her, two, because we would like to know your input on our plan. Your test scores are the highest on record and your opinion would be highly valued." he said with a pleased look.

"My test scores? The guy who told us about the test said the scores didn't matter."

"Well they don't, but we do still look at them. Sometimes they can help us determine the class that would best fit a new Guardian. Other times they are used to determine other things. In general they don't matter, I mean look at Cayde. He failed the test and still became the Hunter Vanguard." The reply this time came from Ikora who stated it like a textbook would read.

"Because of a bet." Cayde added.

"So wait, the purpose of the test was to gage a Guardians intellectual capacity, but what does that have to do with my test scores? No one who tested got the scores back." Sarah asked with confusion in her tone.

"No one was supposed to get theirs back. Your scores are different, the last two people to score anywhere near what you did are Osiris, and the tank thief beside you." Cayde said as he set the chicken down onto the table. "Man if Eris was here Colonel, you'd be hit by a rock by now. I miss her." Cayde chuckled fondly to his chicken.

"Did I really score that high?" Sarah asked as she turned her, now wide with disbelief, hazel eyes to Ikora.

"Your scores are higher than mine and Osiris, you almost got a perfect score." Ikora said with a smile. "You are technically the smartest person in this room, according to the tests" She said with slight praise.

Sarah could not contain the feeling of elation she felt swirling around within her mind. The test she had studied for so long to pass then forgotten about as soon as she was approved to be a Guardian was now coming back to haunt her like a benevolent spirit. After a moment of fighting back her smile in vane, it finally split across her lips and she smiled proudly at herself, a lowly City dweller who scored higher than the Warlock Vanguards of legend. Sarah could remember being a kid and hearing stories of the Vanguard Osiris before he was excommunicated from the Tower, the City, and from humanity. After he was replaced by Ikora Rey, new stories spread of her impossible feats in the crucible with her using nothing but the void and her fabled shotgun, The Invective.

"Thank you for that but if you wanted to congratulate me on my test scores you could have called me to talk to you without the need for Fate to be with us. So why am I really here and what does that have to do with the Moon and Fate?" Sarah queeried.

Zavala cleared his throat and spoke in the serious tone he used whenever he had hard news to deliver. "There has been a strange development on the Moon. The Hive have completely destroyed the Fallen that remained on the Moon. At first we thought they were doing us a favor by finishing off the House of Exile," Looking across the table to Cayde, Sarah could see him mouth the word 'but' just before Zavala said it. "But, when we sent an investigation team in to determine the damage the Hive had done, they discovered something then went dark before they could relay much information." Zavala paused and slid a data pad across the table to Sarah for her to inspect.

On the data pad was a picture taken from a helmet camera recording. The picture was of a Fallen Dreg but something was different about the creature. Its eyes were glowing green in dark sunken craters that leaked the familiar black vapor the Hive secret when they perform dark rituals, or when they taint the light. The black vapor made Sarah think back to the story of Eris Morn who barely survived the experience she faced while trapped within the Hellmouths seemingly endless miles of warrens. When Eris finally managed to return, she was changed, touched by the darkness that thrived below the surface of the Earth's satellite. Her eyes had been lost, now replaced by the eyes of the Hive, her wounds from where her eyes were clawed out, forever bleeding the black vapor that was seen in the picture on the data pad. Now she as missing once again, having left the Tower before the Red Legions failed assault on the City.

As she looked closer at the image, Sarah noticed something she had looked over before. On the Dreg's face, directly under its glowing eyes she could see a jagged piece of Hive chiton growing out from underneath the Dreg's skin. Then an idea clicked into Sarah's mind though she figured the Vanguard probably already thought of it, nonetheless she still voiced her thought to them.

"From the records I've read in the Hall of Records, the Hive are like an infection of the Light right?" She asked more so to Ikora than the rest of the table thought she got her reply from Zavala.

"Yes they are. They are an infection created by the agents of the Darkness to extinguish the Traveler's light." He confirmed with a bitter tone that openly showed his distaste for the creatures that inhabited the Moon.

"So maybe they figured out how to corrupt the Light without killing it. If this was Ether corruption then the Fallen would have been driven mad by the time your team arrived. These Fallen are different, here," She pointed to the zoomed in face of the Dreg that showed off the piece of chiton she had spotted. "this is a chiton growth from under the skin." She said as she passed the data pad to Ikora who in turn passed it to the next person.

"So what does that have to do with the Light being corrupted?" Shaxx asked as he handed the pad back to Sarah who set the device on the table.

"Well what if they found out how to corrupt the remaining Light left in the Fallen. The Traveler had bestowed the gift of the Light upon the Fallen once before. Traces of it could still remain and be corrupted." Sarah looked around the room to find the faces of the Vanguards twisted in contemplation. For a moment Sarah began to doubt the idea as silence bagan to take the room.

"That is entirely possible but the Hive would require untainted Light in order to gain a strong enough understanding of its properties. How would they get their claws on that?" Ikora said as she looked around the room for a moment.

"The guardians who were found in the crystals on the Moon years ago, they were drained of Light. We assumed it was because of the soul-fire crystals they were trapped in but without their Ghosts, there was no way to be sure." Zavala said coldly as he remembered the losses they suffered.

"Ghosts are a Guardians strongest and most reliable way to connect with the Light. It would be difficult but not impossible to taint a Ghost with the Darkness." Cayde added before he looked over to Ikora then to Zavala. "Of all the Guardians we lost that day, how many of their Ghosts were found?" He asked.

There was a long pause as Ikora turned her head down to the table. "None, not even a fragment of the Ghosts ." She said bitterly


	5. The Vanguard's Lie

Fate stared out at the Traveler from the perch she had taken in the highest rafters of the Tower's hanger, a place that had taken her several revives to get to when she first discovered it. Aspen rested on her knee and stared back at Fate, waiting for her to give any sign of life other than a slow periodical blink to wet her glowing blue eyes. Fate sighed as she felt Aspen staring at her intently and looked down to her knee with a torn expression of guilt and remorse. She had let herself down today when she stormed off from Zavala without saying a word, probably for the better. If she had stayed she knew she would have said things that she would have come to regret even more than she regretted her actions now. Aspen knew what she was thinking but did not speak as he waited for her to break the oppressive silence that held them both quiet.

" _You know what I'm thinking so why don't you say anything about it?"_ She asked him mentally, giving up on maintaining the silence.

" _What is there to say? If you want to run away I'll go with you, but…"_ He paused and rotated the front portion of his shell before he continued. " _if you wanted to stay, confront your demons, and move past them, then I would also stay with you."_ Aspen replied in a comforting tone that showed his genuine care for his guardian.

Fate couldn't fight back the slight curling of her lips into a smile as the Ghost spoke to her. Aspen had been the closest person to her, aside from Marcus but with him gone it was just Fate and her little light. Raising an ungloved blue hand to her eye, Fate wiped away the tear that clung to her eyelash as she thought back to Marcus. When he died Fate felt nothing but hollow and empty, still, years later, the emptiness had just begun to fade. Now she felt it in her stomach again, the thought of returning to that festering hell made her feel like she had when she found his body. That day she felt nothing but burning hatred and anger at the Hive, for taking her love away, and at herself, for letting them take him away. Fate clenched her fist as the feelings washed over her like a wave then struck out at the solid steel crossbeam that ran over her head.

Pain exploded across her knuckles as a loud crack accompanied by the ringing of metal filled her ears. She winced in pain as she unballed her fists and inspected the damage to her hand, watching silently as her blood dripped to the ground far below leaving behind an ethereal tail of wispy light as it fell through the air. Fate continued to watch as Aspen quickly went to work repairing the shattered bone and sealing the split skin, returning it to its uniform faintly glowing blue. He spun around and looked up at her as he rotated his front half in segments, trying to figure out what striking the metal accomplished. Fate knew what he was doing and laughed at his fruitless attempts to understand something she doubted even Exo's understood, despite them also doing it.

" _Why do you hurt yourself when you get mad?"_ Aspen asked with the simple curiosity of a child.

Fate paused for a moment to think as she realized she too did not understand her motives or goal in hurting herself. " _I-I, ya know what, I don't know. Maybe it's to help keep me focused. Maybe it's to get my mind off of things I shouldn't think about."_ She replied back in an evasive tone.

" _You know caffeine can keep people focused too, probably a lot healthier than hurting yourself."_ Aspen replied as he turned away and flew out into the open air outside the hanger then turned back to look at her. "What else are you thinking about anyway? We might be connected mentally to a degree but that doesn't mean I know what you think, all the time." Aspen asked curiously, bringing the conversation out of Fates head and into the open air, as he flew back to his Guardian.

Fate looked down as she rubbed her knuckles unconsciously while she thought. Finally she looked back up to her Ghost with a soft sigh of surrender, deciding that telling him it was nothing would lead to an argument about how it is something at which point she would lose the will to argue and tell him anyways. "What do you think they're talking about? Zavala asked me to go but when I didn't he took Sarah along anyway." Fate said calmly as she tried to think of reasons why.

"If you want to listen we can, I'm still interfaced with Sarah's armor." Aspen said proudly, as he had begun to question his choice to remain connected to her.

Fate chuckled and nodded once. "You are so sneaky, well let's hear it." Fate said as she pulled her helmet over her long blue locks and leaned back onto the steel beam behind her.

"So what does that have to do with the Light being corrupted?" A deep and heroic voice asked.

"Well what if they found out how to corrupt the remaining Light left in the Fallen. The Traveler had bestowed the gift of the Light upon the Fallen once before. Traces of it could still remain and be corrupted." Fate quickly recognized the voice of Sarah and became increasingly curious in their conversation.

" _The light being corrupted? Maybe we should have stayed with Zavala."_ Fate said to herself as her Ghost was preoccupied tapping into Sarah's armor.

"That is entirely possible but the Hive would require untainted Light in order to gain a strong enough understanding of its properties. How would they get their claws on that?" Fate could easily pick out the voice of Ikora who always sounded like an instruction manual on how to fire a rocket launcher at the enemy.

Fate began to worry as she realized the importance of the conversation they were having and dropped from the rafters. Like a drop of rain, she fell towards the catwalk below her quickly, stopping herself just before she hit the metal walkway with a single use of her triple jump, then letting her feet hit the ground softly as her momentum died. As soon as she felt balanced Fate ran, making her way to the large flight of stairs that would lead her down to the main floor of the hanger. Her feet moved like a blur as she made her way down the steps to the main floor, catching an odd glance from Amanda Holliday and the Dead Orbit crew she was yelling at.

"The guardians who were found in the crystals on the Moon years ago, they were drained of Light. We assumed it was because of the soul-fire crystals they were trapped in but without their Ghosts, there was no way to be sure." The conversation carried on over her helmets comms, the voice of Zavala being the only one speaking now.

The words Zavala said made Fate stop instantly and listen closely to the next words to be spoken. Fate could feel her heart thundering a quick beat in her chest as she inhaled large breaths of air.

"Ghosts are a Guardians strongest and most reliable way to connect with the Light. It would be difficult but not impossible to taint a Ghost with the Darkness. Of all the Guardians we lost that day, how many of their Ghosts were found?" She quickly recognized Cayde's voice and was slightly relieved that he was there, though his words tore away any relief she had felt.

Fate asked if Marcus' Ghost had been recovered the day she found out about the incident. The Vanguard told her that they had only found pieces of his Ghost, Pine, scattered about the chamber where the rest of the guardians had been found. They told her his body hadn't been recovered which was when she set out to find him and bring him home, dead or alive. A large part of Fate wished she had listened to the Vanguard when they had told her not to go, that the search parties would find him. She was told by the other Guardians in the search teams that someone should never be the one to find the body of their lover, they told her that's not how it should ever be. She didn't listen and now, she had to live with the images she found in the cave with Marcus. His mysterious brown eyes were wide with terror, his face torn by Thrall, and his light drained by the Wizard who loomed over his corps like someone looking at a trophy. Fate remembered the agonized screams of the Wizard as her body was burned away by Fate's Light.

Piece by piece Fate tore the Wizard to shreds, drawing upon her light far longer than she had ever done before, far longer than most Guardians could. She counted every glowing shot that left the barrel of her rage fueled Golden Gun, it's color was different that day. It did not hold the usual orange glow of the Traveler's solar Light, this time it was burning white hot with Fate's hatred of the Hive, of the Darkness, of the one single Wizard who took Marcus from her. Twelve shots tore through the Wizard, the first two took the Wizard's hands, the next two took her arms. Four more shots cut the Hive creature in half along her waist while Fate saved the last four shots to remove the Wizard's skull with malicious anger. The next words spoken from the conversation tore into Fate like a shock dagger through flesh.

"None, not even a fragment of the Ghosts."

Fate stared at the ground for a long moment before she clenched her right hand into a tight fist and held out her left to summon Aspen. He appeared quickly and looked up at her with concern.

"Fate, don't do anything ras-"

"Get me in that room." She ordered.

"Fate, this is good news! If Pine was never recovered she could still be alive. Alive enough for her to revive Marcus." Aspen said with hope. He knew it was false hope but his Guardian needed something to hold onto, even something that was as futile as trying to hold water in a fist.

The words from her Ghost struck her mind had and almost knocked her over if not for her muscles being taught with anger directed to the Vanguard, more specifically Ikora for lying to her. "Are you sure?" She asked through clenched teeth, not wanting to let herself believe more false information that would fall through.

Aspen paused and thought to himself, knowing fully the odds of a Ghost's survival in the Hive's fortress. "You and I both know how resourceful Pine is, she is more resourceful than Marcus." He said with a heartfelt chuckle as he thought back to Pine and Marcus, the only other beings he connected with as much as he did with Fate.

Fate let her hand unclench and let out a long sigh before she started to make her way out into the courtyard, heading towards the briefing room with purpose in her stride. Aspen floated by her side, noting the fact that she left her helmet on, and pondering the expression hidden behind its black visor. The sound of hushed whispers coming from the few Guardians that remained in the courtyard after the fight caught Aspen's attention and he turned his optic to look at them only to find them pointing at Fate with curiosity. They had seen Fate storm off earlier and were probably curious as to what happened. He shook them from his mind as they approached the door that led down to the briefing room.

As she stepped inside and approached the large engraved double door, the redjacks guarding the door stepped towards the center of the double doors and raised their weapons to stop Fate from approaching. She only responded with the flick of her wrist, sending two throwing knives into the robot's heads. Fate watched for a moment as the frames sparked before falling aside, leaving the door for her to open. With a few quick steps, Fate approached the door and took a deep breath, preparing herself before she pushed open the doors and stepped in to the room.

Zavala, Cayde, and Ikora spun their heads over their shoulders to look at the intruder who dared to disrupt their business. Cayde almost drew his hand cannon, the Ace of Spades, before he recognized the unique boots of Fate. He quickly raised his hands to his companions and stopped them before they could draw their guns.

"Woah woah woah! Calm down guys it's just Fate." He said as he lowered his hands to the top of the table and sighed. "You scared us. Hey why didn't the doormen let you in?" He asked, earning a quick response from Shaxx.

"They aren't doormen and they have been decommissioned by _your_ Hunter. You are paying for them Cayde." Shaxx corrected Cayde.

"Fate, we didn't expect you to be joining us today, we're glad to-" Zavala started but was cut off by Fate who approached Ikora and stopped a few feet in front of the Warlock.

"You lied to me." Fate accused.

"Abo-" Fate didn't let Ikora finish before she answered the question.

"About Pine! His Ghost, you probably didn't care enough to learn her name, or any of their names for that matter." Fate said coldly with contempt in her voice.

"We had no way of knowing at the time if she was dead or alive, if any of them were. We still don't but we have a better idea of what happened to them now, thanks to Sarah. The Hive are possibly corrupting the little Light that remains in the Fallen! If they are doing this to the Fallen then imagine what they could do to Guardians like us?" Ikora protested with heartfelt emotion.

"You haven't cared about the safety of any Guardian other than the Young Wolf. I've looked into the recorded statistics, the missions you assign to Guardians always have the highest mortality rates. Do you know how many Guardians have died total on missions assigned by Cayde?" Fate didn't even wait for the reply before she continued. "Total only forty-seven Guardians have died, his missions are alway less thought out than yours and they are safer by a long shot! Zavala has only suffered thirty-three losses since he has been the Titan vanguard. But you, you have led seventy-eight Guardians to their deaths! No wait, you haven't led anyone, you've sat here, back at the Tower, while Guardians risk their lives for the sake of the City." Fate corrected herself. "Marcus was only a name on your list. For a Warlock who is supposed to have thought out each mission you send Guardians on, you sure do have a lot of death on your hands." Fate said with a bitter sigh of resentment.

Across the table from Ikora stood Cayde with his mouth agape at what the Awoken hunter had just said to Ikora, one of, if not the most, threatening Guardians to have ever lived. Cayde, left speechless, looked to Zavala who was looking at Fate with the same amount of shock as Cayde though he kept his mouth shut, this not being the first time he had seen an outburst from Fate like this. Sarah was staring at Fate and Ikora with wide eyes, her brain not wanting to believe the harsh words Fate spoke about the person who was supposed to be her mentor on the ways of a Warlock. If Ikora really did know that most of the Guardians she sent out would die, then that would make her as equally responsible for their deaths as the creatures that extinguished their Light.

"I know that as a Guardian, I don't get the promise of safety or even the promise of returning home, but I'd at least like to know that when I accept a mission from the Vanguard, they have made sure there are little surprise happenings that could have been avoided by proper planning." Fate said softly, already feeling bad for her words. "I don't blame you for his death, that's no one's burden but mine, but I do blame you for all the other lost souls who were sent in unprepared for their tasks and I do blame you for lying to me." Fate said before turning away from Ikora's shocked face to look at Zavala with sorrowful eyes as she began to address him. "Commander Zavala, when I return with Pine, I will be leaving the Tower indefinitely." She said before quickly walking out of the door, followed by Aspen and, after exchanging looks with the Vanguards, Sarah who had to run to catch up with the fast moving Hunter.

"Aspen, have Amanda prep the ship, I'll meet you in the hanger." Fate said as she looked over to her green floating companion who zipped off towards the hanger.

A hand being placed on her armored shoulder caused Fate to spin around to face the person who had been following her from the briefing room. A look of surprise washed over Fate's features as she was greeted by Sarah gasping for breath as she held onto the Hunter's shoulder. After a moment of quick breaths, Sarah stood up straight and reaffirmed her grip on her helmet which she held in her left hand.

"Y-you're not leaving without me." Sarah gasped as she brushed her red bangs from her eyes with her free hand.

"Um, yes I am. You don't need to be going where I am headed. The Hellmouth is no place for a Guardian who has never seen combat." Fate warned.

"Well it's gonna be hard to experience combat if I'm never in it." Sarah quipped. "Besides I can help you find that Ghost." She added quickly.

"How can you help me find Pine when you don't even have your own Ghost?" Fate asked curiously, not intending to hurt Sarah.

"Ouch, okay. Well when I was a kid I could always find dead Ghosts who were unable to make it back to the Traveler before they died. Whenever I would scoop them up my parents would yell at me to put them down but I couldn't. After I picked them up their eye would light up and they'd finish their journey to the Traveler. Look I might not have a Ghost but I know what I'm signing up for, unlike those other Guardians that you mentioned. I know that there is a good chance I'll die, but there's also a good chance that you could die, and I'm not willing to let you go alone knowing you might not come back." Sarah said with unmoving determination in her voice.

Fate stared at her for a moment before she sighed softly and rolled her eyes, a small smile pulling at the corners of her lips as Sarah's words reminded her of something Marcus would say. "Fine, I guess you can come with, but you'll have to stay close to me. Aspen can only revive you if he's close by." Fate said before continuing towards the hanger at a normal stride, making sure Sarah could keep up this time.

"Wait, can Aspen even revive me? I mean I'm not his guardian, can't Ghosts only revive _their_ Guardians?" She asked curiously.

"Back in the courtyard I had him mark you as his so he could heal you. He can revive both of us but not at the same time. If he tried to revive us both at the same time, his Light would drain and he would die." Fate said before shaking the unpleasant thought from her mind.

"I understand. I'll stay right by your side." Sarah said softly, a slight feeling of worry gnawing at the back of her mind.

Fate turned once she reached the hanger and descended the flight of metal stairs that led to the large hanger floor. Almost as soon as Fate's feet touched the tarmac of the hanger, their ship was raised up from below the hanger and guided onto the launch pad where the blonde haired Amanda was waiting with something in her hands. From where Sarah stood, she could tell that whatever Amanda had was small, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. Fate smiled to Amanda and stopped once they were face to face then embraced Amanda with a tight hug that the shipwright returned. After they had pulled away Amanda looked over to Sarah then back to Fate with a confused look, one that Sarah imitated with her own confusion.

"This is a dangerous mission to bring a rookie on," Amanda looked to Sarah with an apologetic look and added. "Not to be rude."

"It's not rude at all." Sarah dismissed before holding out her hand to shake. "I'm Sarah, Sarah Law." She greeted.

Amanda reached out with her free hand and shook Sarah's. "Nice to meet you Sarah, I'm Amanda Holiday but you can call me Amanda." Amanda turned her eyes to Fate as she let her hand fall back to her side and smiled. "I got that Ghost of yours something special since I heard he'd be working with two Guardians." She said before holding out her occupied hand to Fate.

Inside the palm of her grease stained glove was a small flashing device that faintly hummed with power as the blue light on it flashed in a steady pattern. Flash, flash flash, flash, flash flash. Fate picked up the device carefully and looked over it with a baffled look that drew a smile to Amanda's face as she watched her friend struggle to figure out the device. Sarah, on the other hand, quickly recognized the device from a short list of possible Ghost modifications, a task that proved to be very grueling due to each Ghost being different from another. Sarah gasped as she realized what the implications of the device were which elicited a broader smile from Amanda as they exchanged happy looks. '

"Will you two tell me what it is already." Fate said with annoyance at her inability to understand what to other two comprehended so easily.

"It's a rapid action ammunition synthesizer. Basically it can create ammo from a small amount of light pulled from a Guardian or Ghost. It's very experimental, the first of its kind that won't suck light like a Hive ritual. I call it the RAAS." Amanda said proudly.

"Will it draw Light from both of us?" Sarah asked curiously.

"Yes it will but with the two of you the drain will be minimal since it has three sources of light to draw from." Amanda confirmed.

"Aspen! We have a present for you." Fate called out loudly.

After a second of nothing, Aspen materialized in front of Fate and looked at her with a spinning shell showing his curiosity. "You never give me presents, should I be worried?"

"Not at all little buddy. Now, open up." Amanda said causing Aspen to spin around quickly to face her.

Aspen looked at her questioningly for a moment before his shell opened up to reveal a glowing blue center. Amanda slowly held up the RAAS for Aspen to scan before she placed in on one of the inner faces of his shell then lowered her hands with a proud look on her face.

"There, give it a moment to interface with you then try to synthesize a bullet for Fate's gun." Amanda said.

Aspen spun his shell for a second before letting the pieces come back together then closed the shutter on his blue optic as the device began to tap into Sarah's, Fate's, and his Light. Fate and Sarah both shivered slightly as the device drew upon their light to form a single bullet that fell to the floor with a metallic _ting_ as it hit the tarmac. An approving nod from Amanda showed that the device was working as it should.

"You're all set to go." She said with a hint of worry in her tone.

Fate looked at her with a reassuring smile before she placed a hand onto Amanda's shoulder. "Don't worry Holiday, we'll come back safe." Fate said, not believing her own words as she spoke them.

"You better, that thing wasn't cheap you know. I'd say you owe me a drink when you get back." Amanda said with a smile before turning away and heading back to her workspace where an all black sparrow rested on a set of jacks.

Fate looked away from Amanda and directed her gaze to Sarah with a serious expression. "It's not too late for you to stay." Fate offered one last time.

Sarah returned the look without having to consider her options. "You honestly think I'm going to shy away now? I'm going with you." She said firmly with the confidence she lacked in the briefing room.

Fate gave a soft smile before she looked to Aspen who was waiting with anticipation. "Let's go then." She said before dematerializing in a blue grid, appearing in the pilot's seat of her ship with Sarah sitting beside her in the copilots seat.

Without a moment of hesitation, Sarah felt the ship accelerate out of the hanger and begin to arc upwards into the sky. Through the viewport at the front of the ship, Sarah watched as the cerulean blue sky gave way to the black star splashed void of space. In the distance she could see the cracked Moon glowing a brilliant white with the reflected light of the Sun. Along it's surface she could see the green light emanating from the center of the Moon where the Hive had set up their home, their rituals releasing the sickening green glow that split across the white surface. The sight disturbed Sarah, it was a constant reminder of the dark power the Hive possessed and how deadly their power was to the Light she cherished so dearly.


End file.
